Hello, fellow sufferers! I am very happy I found you – and this ocean of knowledge. Everything seems easier now. I’d like to impatiently ask a question (or two 🙂 that was probably asked a million times so far so I apologize about that.

I started this journey a few weeks ago and the die off is pretty bad. How long does it last?

Also, in last five years candida brought me 22 unwanted pounds and so far on this diet I have not lost but gained 2 pounds! Is that normal? Will this diet and candida treatment help me lose weight?

Most candida sufferers lose weight on the diet. Please list the items you are eating on the diet. Die-off can last anywhere between a few days to a few weeks. If it persists, then you either have a bad infestation, are not infected with yeast but something else like h.pylori or SIBO, have minor liver damage and can’t detox the toxins properly, or all of the above. What is your detox plan to detox from the toxins?

I want to warn you that mercury detox is not something to take lightly and I advise you to educate yourself rigorously before you make any decisions in that area. Chlorella and cilantro can be extremely dangerous to those with mercury toxicity and I would argue against their use. I want to say again… they can mess you up big time if you have a mercury toxicity issue.

The reason they are so dangerous is because the half-life of a chelating agent is extremely important and the half-life of both of these substances is unknown. See whenever you chelate, you want to keep a steady level of whatever chelating agent you are using in your bloodstream. If the level of the chelating agent within your bloodstream is at a certain level and then drops below that level those mercury ions that were once attached to the chelators are now being dropped and then redistributed around the body. This causes unpleasant symptoms, oxidative stress, and other damaging health effects to the body. The goal of a chelation protocol should be to maximize mercury removal and minimize the redistribution just described.

If you suspect mercury toxicity I highly recommend you check out Andy Cutler’s book(s) Amalgam Illness: Diagnosis and Treatment and Hair Test Interpretation: Finding Hidden Toxicities. Both are full of information and should be read by anyone suffering from mercury toxicity. There’s a Yahoo Group dedicated to those recovering with his protocol and I wanted to leave you with a post from there regarding the use of cilantro/chlorella to detox mercury. Hopefully this scares you enough to avoid using cilantro/chlorella for detox:

Cilantro nearly killed me, and many other members have gotten horribly worse from it.

I really hope you are OK with the improper protocol, but to put it bluntly, you are playing with fire. I don’t know about you but I wouldn’t want to play russian roulette with my health. I’m not kidding when I tell you that improper chelation can CRIPPLE you to the point of suicide, severe depression, severe loss of well being, psychosis, etc. Not everyone gets horribly worse but if you do the research you’ll see LOTS of people got horribly and often permanently worse from improper chelation. I’m talking like 10 years to get back to somewhat normal. No, this is not your typical case, but neither is getting mercury toxicity from amalgam fillings. Most people with them are fine. A lot of people who chelate improperly are also fine, some get sicker and others lose it all and get really, really messed up.

BTW, chlorella cannot chelate anything if you look at the chemical makeup it is a “sulfury” food with a single thiol. It’s often also contaminated with heavy metals.

The only thing that has helped me recover from my improper chelation has been ALA in low frequent doses per Andy’s protocol.

As I said, don’t take this personal because I am only here trying to help you and other members. I took cilantro and chlorella for a few days and it screwed me up big time. Severe yeast overgrowth, my liver stopped clearing toxins, I got severe neurological problems, could barely get out of bed, etc. I’d say it added at least 4 or 5 years to my chelation journey. Is that really something you want to risk over a few capsules of Chelex?

First off, do you have dental amalgams in your mouth? If so, don’t attempt chelation until you get all amalgams safely removed. If you chelate with amalgams in you will get much more sick.

Second, after amalgam removal you must wait at least 3 months before using any ALA to chelate.

Third, when chelating with ALA or any other chelating agent like DMSA or DMPS you must chelate according to the half-life of the substance. If you were to take ALA every other day or once a day you’re running the huge chance of making yourself MUCH worse as a result. The dosing method is extremely critical.

Don’t rush into anything yet. If you give me some of your health background and dental history I can help you out more.

I don’t have any amalgams in my mouth for a few years now (five or more, I really can’t remember precisely).

My health progressively worsened when I stopped eating meat, but upped my intake of fish and other seafood. It started with sinuses and then middle ear infection that became chronic (almost constant), with fluid in ear. I took antibiotics and steroids for the inflammation. That’s how I got candida problem.

Now, after a month of anti-candida program I feel much better but the fact that I didn’t lose any weight prompted me to research some more, and that’s how I came to suspect mercury toxicity.

Blue Poppy;54330 wrote: I don’t have any amalgams in my mouth for a few years now (five or more, I really can’t remember precisely).

My health progressively worsened when I stopped eating meat, but upped my intake of fish and other seafood. It started with sinuses and then middle ear infection that became chronic (almost constant), with fluid in ear. I took antibiotics and steroids for the inflammation. That’s how I got candida problem.

Now, after a month of anti-candida program I feel much better but the fact that I didn’t lose any weight prompted me to research some more, and that’s how I came to suspect mercury toxicity.

How do you suggest I dose ala?

Check out that link I posted and read through that page in its entirety. It will answer your question for how to dose ALA. Despite the fact that you have had your amalgams removed you will want to make sure via x-ray that you have absolutely no remaining fragments. If you have any root canals, crowns, or dentures you will also want them taken care of before you take any chelating agent. Attempting chelation with any remaining mercury in your mouth is a guaranteed way to make yourself worse instead of better. Sorry if I’m beating a dead horse here, but I really want to hammer that point home.

I’m incredibly lucky in that I’ve never had any dental work done; my sources of mercury exposure are limited to vaccines and a high-fish diet. Because of this I don’t have the personal experience to draw upon to warn you of everything that you need to look out for when it comes to dental revision; I can only point you in the right direction.

But, what would happen if I started eating cilantro? Would that be chelation too?

Or if I started taking chlorella?

Are this things chelating in any dose?

Cilantro is a true chelator in the sense that it is a double-thiol compound that crosses the blood brain barrier, meaning that it can remove mercury from the brain. Despite this, its half-life and method of action are unknown, so it’s impossible to know how often one would need to take it in order to keep your blood levels at a steady level. Without a steady level of chelators in your bloodstream you would constantly be dropping off mercury within your bloodstream which would then get later redistrubted somewhere around your body. This can cause lots of damage and is the reason why any proper chelation protocol should be aimed at minimizing redistribution and maximizing excretion.

There’s no doubt you would get much worse in the long-term if you were to start eating cilantro. How you would immediately react would depend on how poisoned you are and how your symptoms manifest due to your individual biochemistry. You’d probably respond, at the very least, with strong fatigue, emotional disturbances, anxiety, etc.

Chlorella is not a actually a chelator because it is only a single-thiol compound. This means that it will pick up mercury ions and move them around in your body without excreting hardly any mercury. This causes oxidative damage in your body and would cause the same symptoms that you would experience from taking cilantro.

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About The Candida Diet

Lisa Richards is an expert in digestive health and the author of the Ultimate Candida Diet program. She writes regular posts on the causes, symptoms, and treatment of Candida, and has helped thousands of Candida sufferers recover their health.

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